Price: $1.99   Score: 9/10   By M. Schusterman

I’m still not 100% sure if I completely understand this game, but what matters is I couldn’t stop playing.

Noxion, designed by gagulgames, is…well, it’s difficult to describe. I wish I could tell you that within a few seconds of game play you’ll figure it out, but it’s not necessarily that kind of game. That said, it’s not frustrating either. It’s oddly addictive.

What I’m sure of: The quality is extremely high. The game uses the accelerometer, and the slightest motion of your iPhone really effects the game, making it pretty intensely interactive.

The game is based on physically simulated particles. That’s right, physics geeks – this one’s for you. Particles, most marked with either a “+” or an “x” float down one at a time from the top of the screen. They stick to their like kinds, and explode when they touch their opposites. Your goal is to build two big groups before letting them touch and explode, which gives you more points. Also, you get more points if the two groups have an equal number of particles. So for example, if two “x” particles collide with four “+” particles, you won’t get as many points as you would if three “x” particles collided with three “+” particles. The only thing I didn’t quite figure out was exactly how the points system worked – just that equal groups are good, and big equal groups are better.

As the particles fall, you can tilt the iPhone to send them sliding into one another, or drag them with your finger. The more you gather, the more interesting it gets as you really start to use the tilt feature, as well as touch. The borders on both sides start to slowly shrink in on you, making it more difficult to keep particles separate long enough to get two big groups. But a particularly large explosion will push the borders back. There are also neutral particles, which can be attached to both, and bonus particles labeled with extra points.

I scratched my head for a minute or so when I first opened this one, but the great graphics and smooth response convinced me to figure this game out. I’m glad I did; it’s going to be one of the few I keep on my iPhone to play when I have an extra few minutes. If you’re looking for a new, unique strategy game, this one is worth a shot.

Noxion requires iPhone OS  3.1 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Price: $0.99   Rating: 8/10   By Daniel Bischoff

iDrop Dead: Flower Edition is a physics playground from ttursas Ltd that gives you control over how teddy bears are disintegrated into candy and flowers.  Apparently, iDrop Dead’s previous revision was too brutal, and now ttursas has gotten the game out the door by making a handful of graphical tweaks.

iDrop Dead is a physics based game, which basically means that all of the challenges and gameplay is based around a reasonable model of world physics. You’ll be given limited control over your avatar and tasked with specific challenges, usually revolving around destroying the character with the perilous objects included around the map, which include boulders, saws, revolving machines, and burnable objects.

iDrop Dead is separated into four modes, all of which are essentially the same game, but with slight tweaks. There’s Normal Mode which is the only mode available to the player when they first start the game. You’ll learn all of the basics in Normal Mode and you’ll also unlock the other modes here too. As you play, you can unlock Free Play which removes the scoring, clock, and other limitations in Normal mode, Time Attack which challenges the player to race against the clock and score as many points as possible, and 1 Pull mode which gives the player 1 pull to start and the opportunity to earn more pulls by grabbing pull-coins.

Obviously, with Normal Mode being the only mode unlocked at the start, you’re probably going to spend most of your time there (as I did).  Normal mode allows you to choose from 6 different worlds (you unlock these as you continue to score more and more points), and each of those worlds is separated into specific maps. Each world is varied and the different maps do a good job of exploring the mechanics introduced in each. My favorite world was the last one, Bounce World. The trick there is that green objects repel the rag doll back up into the air. This made puzzles a bit more challenging than the other worlds.

iDrop Dead is an enjoyable physics-based game and it’s also very accessible, so if you need an introduction to the genre before you graduate to other rag-doll games, iDrop Dead will make a good transition. While the graphical changes do tone down the carnage, there’s no mistaking what’s happening to the rag doll as it’s broken down into its bits and bytes. That serves as a fair warning to the violence present in iDrop Dead (watch this Youtube video for an idea of what the game is like). With that warning out of the way, I can recommend iDrop Dead as a great time-waster and well rounded pick-up-and-play game.

iDrop Dead: Flower Edition is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch.  It requires the iPhone OS 2.1 or later.  This reviewer played iDrop Dead on the first generation iPhone (EDGE), but the developers recommend it be played on the iPhone 3G or 3GS.

Price: Free    Score: 7/10    By Shaun Campbell

A simple yet amusing app, Newton’s Cradle for the iPhone simulates the classic desktop toy.

Although only a novelty, the Newton’s Cradle does also demonstrate some important concepts in physics, namely conservation of energy and momentum.

Newton’s Cradle was developed by Enabled Solutions and features a 5-ball cradle that responds to both touch and tilt control. You can select any number of the balls using your finger and then lift them to a desired height before dropping them. Tilting the device will directly affect the behavior of the balls through ‘gravity’.

There isn’t really any other options or features to discuss – there’s not much to Newton’s Cradle – but it does what it set out to do, and it does it for free. A special Valentines Day version is currently available for a limited time for all the romantic physics geeks. The balls are replaced with little hearts you can write a message on. Kind of pointless if you ask me.

Newton’s Cradle requires the 2.2.1 software update and is compatible with both the iPhone & iPod Touch

Price: $2.99    Score: 10/10    By Shaun Campbell

Who knew physics could be so fun? Originally a free web-based game from independent developer Colin Northway, Fantastic Contraption has now made its way onto the App Store. inXile Entertainment purchased the rights to Fantastic Contraption late last year, with a view to developing an iPhone version of this hugely popular physics puzzler.

Fantastic Contraption does take a couple of minutes to get your head around, but the concept is a simple one -- create a machine to transport an object from point A (blue zone) to point B (pink zone).

You build your contraption using a combination of wheels and connecting rods and then hit the ‘Start’ button to see your machine in action. Everything is static in build mode, but hit start and your machine will come to life -- wheels spin, gears turn and the laws of physics take effect.

The game features both powered and non-powered wheels and connectors with different properties, and you’ll have to decide what is needed for the situation. Sometimes you’ll have to bridge a gap, or make it over or around an obstacle in order to reach the goal.

The great thing about Fantastic Contraption is that there is no “right” way to finish a level.  There are many different approaches you can take, and it’s really only the end result that matters. The first few stages are quite easy, but don’t expect them all to be so simple and straight-forward. It takes a fair amount of trial and error and some outside-the-box ideas to beat the harder levels.

Fantastic Contraption is an easy game to play and makes great use of the iPhone touch interface. Selecting components and assembling your machine only takes a couple of taps. For added precision when building, the developers have included a nifty little feature that zooms in on the portion of the screen beneath your finger.  It’s much like Apple’s hold-and-zoom technique for accurately moving the cursor in a text message.

Fantastic Contraption comes loaded with 43 playable levels and also a built-in level editor. You can create your own custom levels as well as download new ones made by other players -- so you’ll never run out of new challenges. Admittedly, the graphics aren’t amazing -- but the gameplay is compelling, and that’s what really counts.

Fantastic Contraption requires the 2.2 software update and is compatible with both the iPhone & iPod Touch.

See video below for some in-game footage.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqbZoMyxM_c